iPhone owners can now use Yubikey NFC tags to unlock apps

Apple purportedly utilizing Liquidmetal alloy in SIM ejector tool

Well, would you look at that. Just days after Apple made official its purchase of Liquidmetal's IP, now the world is finding out how the two love birds are working together. Or, should we say, have been working together. According to Atakan Peker, the alloy's co-inventor, the SIM ejector tool that ships with older iPhone units is made of Liquidmetal's materials. To quote: "That's my metal. I recognized it immediately. Take it from an expert, that's Liquidmetal." Cult of Mac has also confirmed independently that the tool is relying on the newfound acquisition (and Wired assumes the same is true on the iPad 3G), and from a supply chain standpoint, this oddity definitely makes sense. Apple's no fan of relying on a sole supplier for anything, and given that Liquidmetal is one of a kind, it's testing the waters on a relatively non-essential part of the puzzle. There's still no word on how Apple plans to integrate the metal into future products, but given that the pair have apparently already been in cahoots, you can bet they'll be able to skip right over the pleasantries and get down to what's important.